Where Do My Readers Come From?

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

This is a band that I really used to be into during the swing resurgence of the 90's.The Cherry Poppin' Daddies have been around for nearly 20 years. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it. They have only put out 8 albums and the biggest of them was the multi platinum Zoot Suit Riot which was released in 1998. They are an Oregon grown band and come from Eugene which I think is pretty cool. A little bit of trivia for you as well. I worked at one time in a movie theater in Eugene called Cinema World and several of the guys who worked there had a funk/swing band. Well one of those guys a fella named Sean Flannery went on to play tenor saxophone with the daddies from 1996 to 2008.

Here is their biggest hit. "Zoot Suit Riot" which actually is a pretty fun song.

I am just not feeling it tonight. So I am not digging deeper into their discography because frankly while I used to really enjoy them. They as a band do not really do it for me any more. But please enjoy the big hit.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I like Cake. My favorite is German chocolate but I also like the band Cake as well. I do not have a lot to say about them. How about we just let the music do the talking.

I have felt like he feels in this song. Lots and lots of times in my life. It never gets any less painful to hear and seems to be the perpetual problem of the nice guy. But I do have lot of friends that are girls. :)

I just get a kick out of this song. I love the country sound and I totally get what he is saying about liking bench seats better then bucket seats and a stick shift. "Stickshifts and Safetybelts"

I like ladies who wear a "Short Skirt Long Jacket" But I prefer a short skirt and a nice sweater. :)

Why does everybody think that "Sheep Go To Heaven" and Goats Go To Hell.

Most people who know me in real life are well aware of my love of reggae and ska and epic heavy metal. But I also have a soft spot in my musical heart for swing music. It is so danceable and really just fun. It is just plain fun music.

This album by Brian Setzer formally of The Stray Cats is just a well made, well played, super fun good time, shake it baby, shake it album. The Dirty Boogie is one of the best of the modern swing albums and I believe really helped to generate the swing resurgence that we experienced in the 1990's. That was a fun time and I really enjoyed going to different swing clubs in the Portland area and dancing.

Lets get to the music so you folks can do some dancing as well.

This is a live performance of the title track from this album. "The Dirty Boogie"

"Switchblade 327" live at Woodstock in 1999. One thing that I really like about this style of music is that often the band members are really talented musicians.

That is all you are getting because frankly I am more interested in listening to the Decemberists collection that I have finally filled out.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Well, well, well we have finally hit some classic 70's rock and roll. I own one album from Boston and it is their first album the self titled Boston. A little bit of trivia for you. This album is called by some the best selling debut album of all time. Some others say it is second best to Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction and still others say that Alanis Morrisette Jagged Little Pill is tied with Boston with 16 million copies sold. It is interesting to note that though the album never reached number 1 on the Billboard charts it peaked at 3 and was on the charts for an amazing 132 weeks. That is almost three years!! Pretty crazy.

I am not sure who to believe and I know that they still count album sales so who knows what numbers are correct. The one thing that is correct is that like them or not the band sold an amazing number of copies for a debut album. I also am unashamed to say that I actually really enjoy listening to it. But I also admittedly have a soft spot for this kind of music from this era.

I really could give you all eight songs off of this album. I am going to start with number 1 and we will see if I feel like just giving you the full Boston experience.

"More Than a Feeling"

I think I am just going to go with every other. So here is number 3.

"Foreplay/Long Time"

Here is the fifth song. Are you feeling the rock fill you!!

"Smokin"

And finally a double jump to the last song on the album.

"Let Me Take You Home Tonight"

There you go. I can't wait until I get to Styx. They also carried the torch of music for this era.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

The album is called Superwolf and was created by Bonnie "Prince" Billy (Will Oldham) and Matt Sweeney. Now if you follow any of the newish music at all and have a drop of hipster blood in your body then you will recognize the name Will Oldham.

Also not to get to tied up into the whole who came first argument. I would say without Will Oldham there may not have been Bon Iver or Iron & Wine or Mumford and Sons and a myriad of other bands that all basically use the same acoustic guitar and plaintive and painful harmonic vocals. A style of music which I love dearly and I find it totally accessible and listenable. If you do not like it then you know what you can do.

There are 11 songs on this album and it comes in at a tidy 43 minutes. It is well worth your time to listen to. If you can't track it down. Well come on. It isn't hard. Do it. Just get yourself a copy. Trust me.

"Bed Is for Sleeping"

"Beast For Thee"

"Rudy Foolish"

And finally "I Gave You". This is a sad, sad, beautiful song and one that I love dearly.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I really am unable to say enough about this band. I feel like the first album For Emma, Forever Ago was just an amazing solo work by Justin Vernon. But when it came time to tour he realized that he needed more voices for the vocal harmonies he brought in some other artists Michael Noyce, Sean Carey and Mathew McCaughan. For Emma was released independently in July of 2007 and is just amazing and the second titled simply Bon Iver is amazing as well.

The biggest difference between the two albums is that the second one was recorded with a full band as opposed to the first where Justin did all of the work and then joined them together via studio magic. Both are incredible and you should really do yourself a favor and track them down and give them a listen. To be sure, there is a certain melancholy sadness to his voice and his lyrics but it is so much more them music for the depressive inside all of us.

This is the first song off of For Emma it is called "Flume". It is really a lovely song.

This next song is also off of the first album the sixth track called "Creature Fear"

This is off of the latest album and it called "Holoscene". It is just a beautiful song.

This one is called "Blood Bank". It is from an EP of the same name. Enjoy it.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I really am enjoying this process because it is letting me show all of you the different types of music I am into. I am excited about today because we get to listen to Bob Marley. I think most of my regular readers know that I am into ska pretty heavily. But I do not know if I have ever really addressed my love of reggae as well. I own more Jimmy Cliff then Bob Marley but I am working to remedy that.

What we are sampling today is Marley's greatest hits album Legend. I am actually remiss in that it is Bob Marley & The Wailers. So let me apologize for not mentioning that sooner.

I just love the quote in the picture. Because I think it is totally true, even when a song makes me feel sad, the song also is taking me to a different place and the sadness just isn't a painful sadness. It is a memory or a reminder of multiple things and while sadness might be part of it, pain is not.

Well, lets get to the music. "Get Up Stand Up". This is an amazing song and this clip is from a live show in Germany. This song is almost funk as well as reggae I love it.

"Three Little Birds" is a great song. I have nothing more to say.

"Exodus". This is another live one. So good and so amazing. I recommend that you just lean back and let the music wash over you. Don't fight it. Just give into it.

I may have to give this group another post as I fill out my library. I hope you enjoyed the musical escape today.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Well this is kind of fun. Blues Traveler was a band that really caught my interest and I used to listen to their album FOUR all of the time. But I haven't listened to it for quite a while so I am really enjoying revisiting it.

The band formed in 1987 and is a real mix of different styles and sounds and they are led by singer and harmonicist (I made that word up) John Popper. They have put out 9 studio albums since 1990 with their fourth album FOUR being easily the one with the most mainstream success. It was made platinum 6 times which is a nice feat for any band. I am sure there are some really amazing songs deep in their catalog but I am limited to what I own. So here are a few songs from the one album I own. If you enjoy it then please check them out.

I really think that "Run-Around" is a great song. The video is kind of lame actually but the song pretty awesome. I do have to admit that I kind of enjoy the band behind the curtain aspect of the video. They were not a video friendly band. Not pretty enough.

Crash Burn is a fun song and this is a taste of the the band live. I love John Popper on the harmonica.

"Brother John" kind of reminds me of the Allman Brothers and "Whipping Post". It is a great jam.

Friday, August 19, 2011

So onward down the list we go. We are going to take a break from our regularly scheduled metal and visit the world of pop punk. It is not a world that I am musically a super big fan of. Though at one time I really did like this band. That was up until I saw them in concert and I realized that other then the drummer, who is amazing by the way, they just can't play. There were so many thing onstage to distract from how bad they were live that it really was a disappointing concert and believe me. I have been to some disappointing concerts.

I have three of their albums, Dude Ranch from 1997, Enema of the State, from 1999, and Take off Your Pants and Jacket from 2001. You can tell from the titles of the last two albums that their sense of humor leans toward the infantile. Which is fine. I think that there is a time and a place for that but if that is the only sense of humor you ever show then you really do need to grow up just a little bit.

Since I have three of their albums and right now I just do now care for Blink you are going to get one song from each album. Wait change of plans. I will play one song from the album and then one song live and you will see just how bad they are live. In my opinion.

So here we go. The first song is "Dammit" from Dude Ranch. There is a different drummer on this album. I do not know. Nor do I care what happened to him.

Here is the live version. There is a swear in this one. The F_ _ _ word.

This next song is from Enema of the State and is "All The Small Things" which reached number 6 on the Billboard hot 100 and was their highest charting song ever. I will grant you that the video does a good job of spoofing MTV and boy bands. But it just shows that they are a studio band not a real band.

Here is the live version at the MTV awards take a look at all the distractions from the actual music.

Okay here is my last album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. This is one of the few albums in my collection I regret buying. Though I actually like "Stay Together For The Kids" it is a pretty good song about how much divorce destroys a family and hurts the kids.

Here is the live version from the 2010 Reading Festival so 9 years after the song was first released. ugh so bad

That was so bad. Now let me see if I can find you an example of how good of a drummer Travis Barker is and how hiring him was the best choice the band ever made. Here he is just warming up and practicing. If you appreciate the drums you will appreciate this.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

In 1970 an album was released that shook the very earth. This album changed the face of music and I think was probably what started Heavy Metal. Sure, other bands rocked hard in the late 60's and through the 70's but no band rocked as hard as Black Sabbath.

As a teenager I was only aware of Ozzy Osbourne as a solo act and being a young man raised within the Protestant church it often seemed to me that Ozzy was the very devil that I had been so often warned about. Of course it didn't help matters when his solo albums looked like this.

That album came out in 1980 and I was pretty much scared to death of it. I had not yet really began to like music like I do now. Do not get my wrong. I enjoyed it but I went to a private christian school for most of grade school and my parents car had an AM radio so all I really listened to was the local 50's station. So I did not have a real understanding of rock music and what started with the 50's then shifted into the 60's with the Door's and Jimmy Hendrix and the Who but I still never listened to or had even heard of Black Sabbath. At some point in the late 90's I stumbled across a remix of the Sabbath Classic "After Forever". I believe it was on a film soundtrack. After listening to it a few times I started to realize that the lyrics did not seem to be in praise of Satan at all.

Being an inquisitive young man I decided to check out the original version of the song and I was really surprised by both the music and the lyrics. It is also interesting to note that the song just before "After Forever" is "Sweet Leaf" a song all about how good marijuana is. So really all of that is to say that Black Sabbath was a far more complex band then the Christian Anti-Rock Media really realized.

Enough of my theorizing. On to the music. I am going to throw up some stuff when Ozzy was in Sabbath and then I will put up some stuff from when Ozzy was kicked out and Ronnie James Dio joined the band. I prefer the Ozzy years better but there is some good stuff from when Dio was there.

So without further adieu I bring you track 2 off of their first album "The Wizard". They get extra special bonus points for use of the rockin harmonica. I also really love the drums in this track and the secret cowbell.

Their second album was called Paranoid and I bring you the 8th track "Fairies Wear Boots". Another song that just has an amazing drum and bass line with some tasty guitar licks and the lyrics just make me laugh. I love it. 6:30 of awesome.

Their third album, Master of Reality, was also an epic one and I think my favorite off of it is the one I mentioned earlier "After Forever".

I really think that the first three Black Sabbath albums are the best ones. But they did have a few good songs here and there after those their fourth album was called Black Sabbath Vol 4. One of the songs is called "Supernaut". Want to hear it? Here it is.

Actually I am going to stop there. Ronnie James Dio can get his own post when I get to him. Black Sabbath was and always will be Ozzy's band. No offense to Dio fans out there because I own some Dio and I like his work but I like his solo stuff. Frankly, I think his work with Black Sabbath was not that good.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

This band...I just am unable to recommend highly enough. The Black Keys. They are an American band and are really a blues based rock and roll duo. The singers named Dan Auerbach and the drummer is Patrick Carney and their first album came out in 2001 in total right now they have 6 studio releases and several Extended Plays (EP) and a couple of live albums as well. There is a seventh album in the works but that has not been released yet.

In the spirit of true honesty. I must admit that while I have all their albums I came a little late to the party and it pains me to admit that I have not been following them since their inception. That only really pains me because it makes the hipster inside me sad. I am surprised that I didn't discover them earlier because I love this kind of music. It is because I love this kind of music I am going to try to find a something from every album so hold onto your hats folks today is going to be a long post.

The comes off their first album The Big Come up (2002) some of these are covers and this album was recorded in one of their basements on a 8 track tape recorder that was from the early eighties . But it still sounds awesome, This song is called "I'll Be Your Man"

The second album had some reals gems. But my favorite is a cover of the classic 1959 song by Richard Berry called "Have Love, Will Travel". This song has been covered by lots of artists but I prefer the Black Keys version the best.

Their third album called Rubber Factory is another solid outing. This song "Act Nice and Be Gentle" sounds like it could a lost Zepplin song at the beginning but it is actually a cover of a Kinks song.

This song off of their fourth album Dig is one that I also like muchly. The video is kind of fun as well. The song is called "Your Touch.

Their fifth album is called Chulahoma and really you might be better off calling this an EP. It has 7 tracks on it and the 7th is a hidden one. This is a tribute album and is a collection of covers of bluesman Junior Kimbrough. But much like the first four I find it very listenable when I am in the mood for this kind of kick ass rock and roll. Though in the interest of brevity I am going to jump past this one to the final two albums that I have.

In 2008 we saw the Black Keys signing with a new label and releasing Attack and Release. I think my favorite of off this album is "I Got Mine" which was listed as number 23 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 best songs of 2008. But there are quite a few good songs on this album and I am torn between playing you that one or digging a little deeper into the album. hmmmm ahhh screw it. Here is the last song on the album "Things Ain't Like They Used to Be"

The Black Key's latest album "Brothers" came out in 2010 and you can really here a change in their sound. It is still the same duo and you can tell that they really work well together. I like this album a lot. I know that isn't a big surprise but I really do like all of their music. I think some songs may be weaker then others but overall everything is very listenable to me. There are 15 songs on this album and I can think of three off of the top of my head that I feel are post worthy and I am sure that there will be more as I keep listening. I am going to go with "Howlin' for You" I really like this number.

As I listened to the Black Keys today while I was putting together this post. I realized that this is an interesting band. I think that there are times where their music all kind of sounds the same. But at least as far as I am concerned the sound is so good that it doesn't matter to me and when they really catch a good one that particular song is amazing. I am really looking forward to their next album.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Well this is an interesting band. The band was called Black Grape and the album is called It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah and was released in 1995 and promptly went to number 1 on the UK charts. The title of the album is a reference to drug use because one of the founding members, Shaun Ryder, had just had a band called Happy Mondays fall apart basically due to his drug addictions.

I honestly can't remember how I discovered them. I enjoy them but their sound is really a quirky one and not for everybody. While they received critical and some commercial acclaim in the UK they were pretty much ignored in the US. They released a second album in 1997 called Stupid Stupid Stupid which went to 11 in the UK but they broke up after that.

This is their first single which went to number 9 in the UK. "Reverend Black Grape".

The second single which I actually enjoy a lot is called "In the Name of the Father" which went to number 11.

This last one is called "Kelly's Heroes" and only made it to number 17 on the charts. I do enjoy the way the lyrics flow in it.

I have been enjoying going through my collection and I like coming across artists that I do not listen too as much as I did in the past. I always have felt that my musical taste was pretty eclectic and now I have confirmed it. I am sure as I get further down the list there will be even more surprises.

Well here I sit, it is almost 2:30 am, and I have just woken up. I am not sure what did it. I believe that I fell asleep around midnight and all of a sudden my eyes popped open and here I am. I did try to go back to sleep but I had no such luck. I am not sure what is going on with my sleep cycle. I do know that being unemployed for as long as I have been has for sure affected it. Because you see I have no real reason to wake up in the morning. .... Umm as I look at that I realize that it sounds a little morbid. I mean I have no reason to wake up at a set time or to not stay up all night if I want to.

I am not feeling particularly upset this morning. I would even go so far as to say that on an emotional level it was a particularly good day for a myriad of reasons. Not the least of which was an email I received that made things a little less murky for me. This was the first song that popped up on my random as I turned on my music.

I think I can safely say that more and more Iron & Wine are becoming one of my favorite bands. Their is just something about the smoothness of his voice that I really, really enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed listening to that as much as I did presenting it to you.

I added some new elements to my blog. There is a box you can click to tell me if you thought the band I was highlighting was Good or Bad of if you were indifferent to it. I also added a way for you to share my blog posts to Facebook or Google+ or other things if you feel so inclined. Thanks for reading folks.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Well, well, well this is an album that I am not sure why I even still own it. The album is Elephunk by Black Eyed Peas. This is their 4th album and I think the one that kind of put them on the map so to speak. It is very radio friendly and even as I listen to it again with some trepidation it is listenable but this is not my favorite kind of music at all.

If I want to listen to this style I would much rather listen to Gwen Stefani's solo album. I think that is a much better example of this kind of music. But here you go with some videos.

This one kind of stands out because of the title and on radio the song got changed to "Lets get started" But this version is "Lets Get Retarded".

This one is called "Hey Mama" and is a fine example of basically reggae hip hop and I am sure that I am not calling it the right name at all. But Rhianna has a song that sounds like this and Flight of the Conchords has a song that sounds like this and I actually really enjoy.

Here we are Flight of the Conchords and "Boom". Now this song I much prefer.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Sometimes it is just not possible to sleep. I feel like I should be laying down. But I know it is going to be pointless. I know that I will just toss and turn and so instead I sit here in front of my computer listening to Bon Iver and Iron & Wine and feel sad.

I am sure that Grandma's death and the divorce and one other thing are the main reasons why. But the aftermath of those events have spiraled off into other things in my life that are making me sad as well. I have never been one to make big plans for the future. I never really saw the point in that. I have always felt like things would basically work out one way or the other. But now I am just not sure. I do not see anyway that things are going to work out.

I would love it if I saw some sort of inspiration but I just don't. I am heavily in debt and I do not see a job on the horizon or if I find a job I do not see it being a job that is going to actually allow me to pay off my debt.

I am not writing this as some sort of call for help. I process things verbally and I feel like I need to get some stuff out. Not that it is going to make any difference in the big picture of things but at least I will momentarily feel better because I was able to release some of this. I rarely post on the weekends anyway so I do not know who will read this anyway.

I guess I am feeling extra sad and emotional tonight.

The thing that is most upsetting to me is that I should not be so upset about this. It shouldn't matter and any of my friends would tell me I am being silly. I have been telling myself that I am being silly. But it doesn't seem to matter. I had a good solid month where I was not feeling alone and now I am back to feeling alone. It is hard for me to be as honest as I want to be in this forum because I feel like I need to be purposely vague about things.

But I also feel like if I just write this down but no one reads it then it isn't really going to be helping me anyway. With this process while I do not know who is going to read it. I at least know there is a chance of it being read by somebody. I am not sure why that matters to me but it does.

So as we move further into the B's we come across another famous piano man. The artist known as Billy Joel. He was born in 1949 and joined his first band The Echoes in 1963. But he did not achieve real success until he signed a solo recording contract in 1971 and put out his first album "Cold Spring Harbor". As of 2011 he has put out 13 studio albums with the last one coming in 2001 called "Fantasies and Delusions". He has released 4 live albums with the last one coming out in 2011 called "Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert". But that isn't all there have also been 12 compilation albums released. I think that even if you do not care for him. That is a pretty impressive amount of releases. When I was younger I owned "An Innocent Man" on vinyl but now the only thing I own is "The Complete Hits Collection 1973-1997" which is a three disc compilation. I think I am going to highlight 2 songs from each of the discs. That is if Youtube allows me to. So cross your fingers folks and lets get started.

Here is a live version of "Captain Jack" from 1972. This has fast become one of my favorite early Billy Joel songs.

This is a live version of "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)". It gets bonus points because of the sweet live sax. Play it Sax man. Play it groovy!!

Okay the next two are going to be from the second disc and that disc tends to concentrate more on his stuff from the 80's. I think "Innocent Man" was his best selling album but I could be wrong so no quoting.

I do love that I can find live versions of these songs. This is a live version of "Allentown". It really is a good song and says a lot about how the recession in the 80's affected the steel industry in Pennsylvania.

This won't be a live version. But "Tell Her About It" came out in 1983 and I can remember listening to this over and over again as I tried to pump myself up to ask a girl I liked out. Well...it didn't work and I locked up and mumbled. But the video is pretty fun and really from an era when videos were king.

Okay so on to the third disc and this era of Billy Joel is not one that I am all that familiar with but there are some good songs on it.

Here is a live version from 2006 of "We didn't start the fire". This was a pretty big song for him.

This next song is "The Downeaster Alexa" which was just put to great use in the film The Hangover II. It is really one of my favorite of his songs. I could find no good live versions of this one so you get the original video from 1989. It is just a great, great song.

Thanks for reading and listening folks and I hope you have a good weekend. I will see you on Monday as we continue to work our way through the B's.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Quick and dirty today. The artist is Bill Monroe and he is the father of Bluegrass and he is also one of the few members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The only other artists inducted into all three of those are Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams Sr, and Johnny Cash. So he is amongst some pretty good company.

Onto the music. I would break this down a little more in depth but I have 82 of his songs in my library totaling 3.9 hours of music. So this is what you are getting.

A lot of what I like about his work is that it often was just unabashedly religious. It was part of who he was and it came out in the music he played. This was before modern radio came along and decided that everything had to fit into a category. Modern radio gets a big lose in my book. What is saving modern music is the MP3 and the ability for people all over the world to use the internet to find any kind of music that they want to.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

So, there was a time in America in the mid 2000s when a relative new type of country music rose to prominence and for some reason. I am honestly not sure why. I found myself purchasing and enjoying this music. Big & Rich was one of these bands. The funny thing is that while I haven't listened to the album in question HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR in years as I fired it up on the old pc I found myself actually enjoying it.

It isn't that it is bad but it is not the type of country music that I usually listen to. My tastes tend to run more towards the early country of the almighty Johnny Cash and more of the early older bluegrass style of country. SO I honestly am not sure what drew me to this. I can say for sure that it is fun and that is not a bad thing. Sometimes that is the purpose of music. It can just be fun. It doesn't have to mean anything deeper then just that. I do not always feel that way but there are times when I just want to listen to something and not be emotionally moved. I just want to bob my head and tap my feet and maybe sing along. That is what Big & Rich do for me. Since the release of HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR in 2004 they have only released two other albums 2005 was COMIN' TO YOUR CITY
and in 2007 we saw BETWEEN RAISING HELL AND AMAZING GRACE. Both of these later albums did not meet with much critical or commercial success. But both Big Kenny and John Rich are still out there playing music and I believe that they have a pretty loyal core fan base. I am just basically out of touch with that part of the musical world. But I do enjoy the songs off off this album.

"ROLLIN-(The Ballad of Big and Rich)" what makes this song fun for me is that it incorporates so many different types of music. The most noticeable being country, rock and rap. I hope you enjoy it.

This song is kind of a throw back to some of the earlier country songs. "Holy Water" is a pretty interesting song about regret and pain and how faith can bring you some level of comfort. I like it and I don't find it preachy. (This video is horrible though)

I think after the downer of a last song we will finish this up with the big hit off of this album and most people are probably going to have heard this at least once or twice and that is "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy". It hit the charts hard in 2004 and was all over country radio. It seems that I am unable to embed the official video of the song which upsets me. It upsets me because the video has a marching band and cheerleaders and a midget cowboy and hot ladies in business suits. As Cake put it so well "short skirt and a long jacket".

There you go folks, now get out there and get your country on.

Hipster Kat says: "Why are you even letting people know you enjoy this, this, tripe"?

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Today is music from one of my favorite artists. I love his work as a composer and as a performer. I really feel like Ben Folds is one of the most talented musicians in the world. He seems to be a student of music as well as a master of the piano. I do not have all of his library by any means. I would like to get it all at some point but I have three solo albums and two Ben Folds Five albums. I love them pretty much all equally.

Some songs touch me on a more emotional level and can just leave me gutted but others are just really, really well crafted songs and are incredibly nice to listen to. As a result it is going to be hard for me to narrow this down. So I am not sure what I am going to do. I think I may just do one from each of the albums I have. But I would encourage all of you to go out and to track down any and all Ben Folds that you can find. He really is amazing.

This first one is from the album WHATEVER AND EVER AMEN from 1997 and is called "Battle of Who Could Care Less". This is an amazing song and it gets bonus points for mention the Rockford Files.

The second album is THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF REINHOLD MESSNER from 1999 and is truly an amazing album. I do not think there is a bad song on it. There are truly 11 shining diamonds on this album starting with "Narcolepsy" and finishing with "Lullabye" all the songs are amazing. I am not sure where to be begin honestly.

I had to go with "Mess". It says so much.

I had to add another. I just couldn't help myself. This is a lovely, lovely song and the musical arrangement in it is just beautiful. It is called "Magic"

From there we move into Bens' first solo album from 2001 called ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS. I like this album almost as much as I like the last one. I think it is an underrated album but radio play has never been a hallmark of his success. I think Ben plays music for himself and we fans are lucky enough to get to enjoy it. What he writes is not your typical pop music crafted for the masses in some studio for the teen demographic. It isn't that I dislike that type of music but what Ben Folds does is nothing like it.

I am going to have to do three songs from this one. So, So, good.

"Gone" This song pretty much speaks for itself and anyone who knows me in real life knows exactly what I am talking about.

"Fred Jones, Pt. 2". This one is just really a sad and touching story of a retired newspaper man. It really is a lovely song.

"The Ascent of Stan". The piano in this. So amazing. No words for how good this song is. It is a song with some real truth in it.

The next album is from 2008 and is called WAY TO NORMAL and while there are some good songs on it. I do not feel it compares to the last two I just played. But there is one song that I have played here repeatedly and I am going to do so again today.

"You Don't Know Me" with Regina Spektor. Not much to say that I haven't said in the multiple times that I have already highlighted this song. Just listen to it.

The last album I have which as I look at it may not be a real album at all but may very well be a total bootleg is Ben Fold with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra from 2005.

This is called "The Luckiest"

I hope you all enjoyed Ben Folds and that this encouraged you to get some more of his music.

Monday, August 08, 2011

Today is an artist who is really known for his banjo playing but he also had crossed some genres in terms of the different artists he has played with over the years. Now I realize that bluegrass isn't for everybody but I urge you to give this a listen. These are all instrumental pieces but they really have a nice sound to them.

I find that there are times when words just get in the way of really enjoying the music. The artist is Bela Fleck and the album is called PLACES it was released in 1988 and is a compilation of selections from 4 earlier solo albums DEVIATION, SNAKES ALIVE, DOUBLE TIME and INROADS. Bela is going to pop up in further into my music library as I get to some of the bluegrass groups most notably New Grass Revival (NGR) with whom he played for 9 years.

I am having a hard time finding some videos from this album but I will see if I can find some other banjo stuff from Bela Fleck just so you can see and hear how good he is.

Friday, August 05, 2011

Well I knew that it would come to this at some point. This is a band that I have one album of and it isn't even a real album it is just a greatest hits compilation. I think it is actually all of their number 1 songs. I know this will probably be a stance that most of you disagree with but I just do not care for the Beatles. I know lots of people really like them but I am not a fan. I really believe that both The Who and Led Zepplin are better bands from that era and yes the Beatles sold tons and tons of music but record sales do not really matter to me. I like lots of things regardless of their popularity with the unwashed masses. *sniff*

Hipster cat says "I'm with you Lance"!!

Thanks Hipster Cat.

So the album is called 1 and it is by the Beatles so here are a few songs.

"Penny Lane" is one of their songs.

This is another song it is called "Paperback Writer"

This one isn't on the album 1 but it is probably the only Beatles song I like "Helter Skelter"

Thursday, August 04, 2011

So the first artist or band in the B category is the Barenaked Ladies and I just do not care about them anymore at all. I have one album of theirs and I am honestly not sure why that one is still in my collection. There was a time in my life when I had 5 or 6 but now it is just the one Stunt. I even saw them in concert but I am just not a fan anymore. I do not care about their music. That isn't to say that they are not talented because they totally are but I am just not feeling it anymore.

Here is their biggest hit "One Week" the actual video is not embeddable so this is what you get.

This one is called "Alcohol"

That is all you are getting today. I will be back tomorrow with another band that is really popular and that I just do not really care for.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Well we have reached the end of the bands whose name starts with the letter A in my collection and we are closing it out with another group of brothers but these guys are a little different then the previously highlighted Allman brothers.

This set of brothers are from the south as well from North Carolina to be exact but they play a different style of music. They are the brothers Avett, Scott and Seth Avett otherwise known as The Avett Brothers . Now I discovered them from their first major label release, which is out now, titled "I And Love And You" but after listening to that album I had to track the rest of the earlier discography. As anyone knows who has read this blog in the past can tell you I love bluegrass and that is what drew to me the Avett Brothers in the first place. But after listening to their other albums I realize that what they are doing is beyond simple blue grass. I hope you enjoy it and can use this as impetus to track down some more of their earlier offerings.

This first song is off of their first EP which came out in 2001 simply titled The Avett Brothers. This one is called "My Lady and the Mountain"

I think I am going to be doing some album hop scotching from here on out. This song is from A Carolina Jubilee and is called "Me And God". I am not going to get real preachy here or anything like that. But, this song ties in a fair amount with how I feel about God and Church and life.

This next one is from another EP called The Second Gleaming and I think in a lot of ways it is far better then their latest release. The songs just are so strong and I sometimes find myself just waking up in the morning with one of these humming along in my brain. This one is called "Murder in the City"

The truth is that I could post three songs off of this EP and the second one I am going to post is one that I have posted here before but I do not care. It is good and you should like it too. "Tear Down The House"

The third one is called "Black, Blue" and the pain that is evident in it is sometimes heartbreaking to me. But I think that with the pain as I listen to it comes some kind of cleansing as well. This is a live version and is in Germany and Seth is singing I believe.

I suppose I should post one from their latest album so here you go. "Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise". While more polished then the earlier stuff it is still pretty amazing.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

So after yesterday and our trip down thrash metal lane today the selection is something completely different. This is a band called Austra and their sound is just sonically glorious. It is at times goth like but also poppie and a little bit rock and roll as well. I have a hard time putting it into a category. One thing I heard that I liked was goth-tinged electronica.

They are a three person group from Toronto and their lead vocalist is a women named Katie Stelmanis and as you can see by the picture below she is lovely.

Their debut album is called "Feel it Break" and I am unable to recommend it highly enough.

"Lose It" is the first single and I know I have posted this video before but I just love the weirdness of it visually as well as the amazing sound.

This is called "Beat And The Pulse". I just want to get out of the way and have you listen to it. Just let it impact you.

This is "The Choke" and the video has nothing to do with the song. My apologies. But again just lean back and close your eyes and give this a listen.

That is it for today folks. I hope you enjoy it when I can bring you some brand new music. I know that I love it when I discover a new group that I enjoy and I hope that I bring some of you that same feeling.

Monday, August 01, 2011

I knew that this day would come. The day that I hit a band on the tour of my collection that I was not really in the mood to listen to. Now it isn't that I dislike this band and I really do enjoy this album but I was just not in the mood for it at all. While they never got as big as Megadeath or Metallica they had there own fan base and some of their songs were inspired by some pretty different and cool things. This band is Anthrax. The band has put out 9 studio albums since they formed in 1981 and I have just one. It is called "Among The Living" and when I am in the mood for a little thrash metal it is one of my favorite albums. I think we will open with the title track which was inspired by the Stephen King book called "The Stand"

AMONG THE LIVING

There are 9 songs on this album and the whole thing clocks in at a quick 50 minutes. The amazing thing about most of the thrash metal bands of the late eighties what the sheer speed in which they played and Anthrax was faster then most. I will highlight that more later as we get further into my collection.

This next song is about one of my favorite comic book characters "Judge Dredd" forget about the Sylvester Stallone movie we just act like it never existed.

"I Am The Law"

This kind of metal was really a push back against some of the mid eighties metal. They were reacting against band like Poison, and Winger and White Lion and the era of the power ballad. It was pretty stripped down and raw and played as fast and as hard as possible. When you are in the mood to break something and stomp around and above all things "BANG YOUR HEAD" this is the music for you.

"One World" is an interesting song. While it is one of the best of the thrash metal songs it is also a call for non violence. Which I like but I also like the way that this song just roars.

Now I realize that this not music for everyone but such is the nature of my collection. It ranges all over the musical spectrum and I like to think that means I have pretty good taste in music. Or it could mean that I have no taste at all. I am not sure yet.